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As i mentioned earlier only occies, brichardi, leleupi and calvus (but calvus are about $110 per fish so theyre absolutely out of the question). I think very occasionally some species of julis show up but very rare and not cheap.

Thats a shame. You could have one adult leleupi in that tank but im not sure how exciting that would be. I think if it was me I would try the occies anyway if that's all you can get. Just get allot of rocks and allot of shells. Cichlids dont play by anyone's rules and things often end up working out that you didn't expect. For example when I moved my tangs to my mbuna tank I never expected it to be permanent but against everything ever written about them it works.

"At some point you aren't making the animal more dead...You are just making a bigger mess." - Demjor19

I think I'm going to have a go with the occies anyway... I'm hoping just 1 male and 2 females will be okay. If not, occies are rare down here so my LFS will probably take them for store credit so I'll probably get back what I spend shipping them down.

A bit of an odd question but how long do occies live for approx? The lady who is selling the fry in the North Island has offered me her breeding trio of occies as she wants to try apistos instead, but she said she doesn't know how old they are as they were adults when she got them and she's had them for a few years. Don't want to get them shipped down and have them die of old age on me!

Would I be better off getting babies or a proven breeding group, of unknown age?

A proven breeding group is likely to get along, with babies it's a gamble. Ages of fish are uncertain because of so much poor care. All we know for sure is that Killi generally don't get much older than a year or two and that all sorts of catfish can easily reach more than 10 years. I think these fish should be good for 5-10 years.

Getting my Lamprologus Occelatus shipped down soon. REALLY hoping that they decide to play nice together because it's costing me $140. Ouch. The things we do for fish.

The lady is going to wait until my tank is all cycled and ready until she ships them down. Hopefully that will also give the weather a chance to warm up a little. I have never had fish shipped and am pretty worried about it... If for some reason they all turn up dead I don't get any compensation as they were shipped at my own risk.

I have never had problems with having fish shipped to me. I have done it several times, and never had a death.

I hope the ocellatus work out for you. Having a back up plan will be a good idea too. Despite what some have said here, Tangs are aggressive fish. When you are putting fish into a new tank, even a proven pair could turn on each other. I would get juvis if you have the choice. I would also have the bottom of the tank covered in shells for them. A couple of rocks in the middle might help to break sight lines.
As with all fish, what works for one person in one tank, may not work for someone else in another tank.

For anyone who wants to follow my progress with this tank I have a journal for it. Feel free to follow, and either congratulate me or say "I told you so" in a few weeks time when it does or doesn't work out. Have just taken the first pictures -- it's starting to look like a fish tank now!!